If you’ve seen any news coverage in the past 24 hours, you’ve probably heard that the Massachusetts Legislature voted to advance a measure that would amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. If the Legislature passes the measure again in its next session, it will go onto the 2008 ballot. Major media outlets like the New York Times, however, are only skimming the point that “If it passed, the amendment would not invalidate the more than 8,000 same-sex marriages that have taken place since they became legal in May 2004. But it would prevent future marriages of gay men and lesbians.”
Although the Times’ phrasing implies the amendment would prevent gay men from marrying lesbians, what an amendment really means is that there would be two classes of same-sex couples: those who were lucky enough to marry before the ban, and those who weren’t. If same-sex marriages happen at the same rate in the next two years as they did in the last two, there will be 16,000 or so same-sex couples in the state, ban or no. This is a major weakness in the far-right’s position. If same-sex marriage is so bad for society, aren’t 16,000 married same-sex couples still 16,000 too many to have running around the state?
Massachusetts is a blue state overall, and Governor-elect Deval Patrick supports same-sex marriage. The ultra-right is a minority, albeit a vocal one. What will ensure the measure’s demise, however, is gaining the vote of the undecided middle, those who don’t now feel strongly one way or another, but who could be swayed by knowing how a ban affects their friends and neighbors. Once again, this boils down to LGBT individuals, our families, and allies being out in our communities. LGBT parents are often ahead of the curve in this regard (think of a two-year-old shrieking, “I don’t want Mommy, I want Mama!” in the supermarket), and I see us playing a key role in the fight ahead.
Other cultural touchstones indicate that opinion on same-sex relationships is shifting, at least when viewed on a global basis. The latest edition of the UK Who’s Who includes the names of same-sex civil partners as well as opposite-sex spouses.
The new year must be making me feel optimistic.
I totally don’t understand the Mass legislature on this. Being a part of one of the lucky 8000 couples to be legally married, if this amendment passes the next con-con and voters vote one man-one woman as an amendment to the Mass consititution in 2008, am I then illegally married? It’s intended not to affect the already married couple but I fear that the far-right will come after us next. What’s to stop them?
It’s not enough that I currently have trouble figuring out my marital status when asked (I have to go thru the mental run-down of who’s asking me this?, what impact will it have if I say “married”?, can it come back and haunt me later?, etc) If this amendment passes, I’m in an even further fringe category. When asked, am I to say, “I’m still married and my marriage was in Mass between 2004 and 2008…”